Geneva-Lausanne rail service partially restored
Published: Thursday, Nov 9th 2023, 14:40
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Two years to the day after the "hole" in Tolochenaz, another serious incident paralyzed rail traffic on Lake Geneva between Lausanne and Geneva until around 11 a.m. on Thursday. Eight large supply lines were damaged during drilling work at Renens VD station.
The damage to the cables caused the control of signals and points in Renens to fail. The drilling work was carried out during maintenance work at the station on Thursday night. The eight damaged lines each contain around one hundred cables, some of which ruptured.
The problem for SBB is now to find out which individual cables are damaged. As David Fattebert, SBB Regional Director for Western Switzerland, told the media at Lausanne station, this is time-consuming. The work is complicated. The first functional tests are planned for the early afternoon, explained Fattebert.
Investigation initiated
How the drilling error occurred is the subject of investigations. "Bad luck, clumsiness, human error, wrong plans? SBB must look into the matter," said the regional manager. However, such incidents can hardly be avoided during construction work.
While SBB initially assumed that the service would be interrupted until the end of the day, they later announced that they were able to resume the connection between Geneva and Lausanne at 10.45 am. However, only two trains per hour and direction were running. Regional services were maintained by replacement buses between Renens and Morges and between Lausanne and Yverdon-les-Bains.
Travelers had to put up with delays of thirty minutes. According to SBB estimates, this situation is likely to continue until the end of operations. Those responsible did not expect the situation to return to normal before early Friday morning.
The rail disruption caused traffic jams on the roads in the morning, particularly in the Lausanne catchment area. The City of Geneva's public transport company suspended line 9 and made the vehicles used there available to SBB as replacement buses. Line 9 was chosen because two lines run in parallel on this route.
Neuralgic route
The breakdown occurred exactly two years to the day after a major rail disruption between Geneva and Lausanne due to the "hole" in Tolochenaz VD. Although not superstitious, regional manager Fattebert described Thursday's incident as symbolic.
The SBB line between Lausanne and Geneva along Lake Geneva is one of the most vulnerable and busiest routes in the Swiss rail network. In contrast to other important connections, there are no alternative routes. A new nine-kilometre tunnel between Morges and Perroy should provide a remedy by 2040 at the latest.
The "hole" in Tolochenaz caused the line to be interrupted for several days from November 9, 2021. Due to construction work by a third-party company, a large cavity suddenly opened up under the railroad tracks. The rails sank. Rail traffic was only possible again after extensive filling and stabilization work.
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